Manual debugging with RAISE NOTICE

Here's the first promised example:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION format_us_full_name_debug(
  prefix text, 
    firstname text, 
    mi text, 
    lastname text, 
    suffix text)
  RETURNS text AS
$BODY$
DECLARE
  fname_mi text;
  fmi_lname text;
  prefix_fmil text;
  pfmil_suffix text;
BEGIN    
  fname_mi := CONCAT_WS(' ', CASE trim(firstname) WHEN '' THEN NULL ELSE firstname END, CASE trim(mi) WHEN '' THEN NULL ELSE mi END || '.');
  RAISE NOTICE 'firstname mi.: %', fname_mi;
  fmi_lname := CONCAT_WS(' ', CASE fname_mi WHEN '' THEN NULL ELSE fname_mi END,CASE trim(lastname) WHEN '' THEN NULL ELSE lastname END);
  RAISE NOTICE 'firstname mi. lastname: %', fmi_lname;
  prefix_fmil := CONCAT_WS('. ', CASE trim(prefix) WHEN '' THEN NULL ELSE prefix END, CASE fmi_lname WHEN '' THEN NULL ELSE fmi_lname END);
  RAISE NOTICE 'prefix...